Drips
by Shorty Spooky
Summary: A short Scully introspective - First part of season 8


Drips.  
  
Author - Shorty Spooky  
Title - Drips  
Rating - G  
Summary - Scully's cancer returns, causing her to think about many things - past, present and future.   
Archive - Anywhere, just drop me an email to tell me where.  
Spoilers - Memento Mori, Leonard Betts, Tooms, um, Per Magnum, and I guess for most of Season 8, and maybe a few more. Let's make it a contest. See how many you can find! First one to email me with the most episodes I have spoiled in this story gets a free piece of email Spam! Happy hunting :) !  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dana Scully woke up to blood on her pillow. Sighing, she assessed the all too often occurring situation, and hurried to the bathroom. Quickly pressing a tissue to her dripping nose, she sat on the closed toilet lid, and stared at the wall across from her. The wall that was becoming more familiar every night, as she sat there while waiting for the awful dripping to stop. Tonight, she noticed that the wall still had traces of blood on it from the time Eugene Tooms had forcefully entered her home. Although no one had noticed, she had cut herself on the broken window. She didn't want Mulder to think he had to take care of her, didn't want him to know that it had hurt her more than emotionally, so she hadn't told him about the cut. She had simply wrapped toilet tissue around it, and pulled down her sleeve until everyone had left. Then Scully had cleaned and bandaged it herself. She still had the scar, but if Mulder asked, she simply told him it was from a childhood accident. Checking the tissue under her nose, she realized that the blood flow had not ceased, in fact, it had become stronger. She threw out the soaked tissue, and leaned over the sink while she gathered more. As she reached for the tissue she watched the blood drip onto the white porcelain. Drip... Drip... Drip... Mesmerized by the crimson drops, she paused and stared. Marking her thoughts by the dripping.   
  
Drip.  
  
First encountering the horrible Leonard Betts in the back of the ambulance, 3 years ago. Remembering the words that still inspired fear in the very core of her being. "You have something I need" Realizing that he needed cancer to survive and the true meaning behind those words had caused her to pause, and in that brief moment of inactivity, she almost lost her life.   
  
Drip.  
  
Receiving the report from her doctor a week later. She had cancer. Terminal cancer. Upon hearing those words, she saw her whole life flashing before her. She knew that it sounded like a cliche, but that's what had happened. The time she had ended up in the hospital at 11, when she had pneumonia. Being stuck in the hospital again at 14, when she had had to get her tonsils removed. Every illness she could remember was running through her mind. And one thought above all the rest, the question of what, if anything to tell Mulder.  
  
Drip.  
  
Mulder. Learning her partner had come close to getting himself killed just to find the cure for her illness. Worrying that he was putting himself, his career, his credibility on the line, just so her family wouldn't have to bear the shame of a daughter discharged from the FBI. Knowing that if, no, when she got out of the hospital, things would irrevocably be different between them.  
  
Drip.  
  
Finding out her partner had been abducted by aliens, or heaven knows what. Being left alone, here, pregnant with a child, a child she had learned about on a day that had been both joyful, and horrible to live through. Her partner, her best friend was gone, and the only thing she could do was search for him when her superiors decided that there was a valid enough lead, or just to keep her quiet about the truth behind his disappearance. Left behind with a new partner whom she didn't trust and whom she couldn't connect to or confide in. Agent Dogget {she couldn't bring herself to call him anything else} didn't even know of her previous cancer, or her pregnancy. Now that her cancer had returned, and she was fairly positive that it had, she could not tell anyone of her fears of her health. Not even her new-found confidante Skinner. In these recent months, he had become a better friend than she had ever thought he could be. He had taken her to a few doctors appointments and stood by her when she had told her mother of Mulder's disappearance and about the baby. She couldn't trust him with this though. If she did tell him of her failing health, he would definitely take her off the X-Files, effectively discontinuing the search for Mulder. He may even put her in a hospital with fears for both her, and her unborn child's health. Then what would she do? She would only be able to watch as Agent Dogget, and probably another partner took over the X-Files, and probably destroy Mulder's and ...now, her, life's work. She couldn't let that happen.  
  
Drip.  
  
The blood was slowing now, and realizing how much blood she had actually lost while staring into the sink made her scrabble for some tissue to stop up the flow. A few moments and a good deal of tissue later and the nosebleed stopped. Scully went back to bed, and curled in the fetal position, softly rubbing her slightly swollen stomach.   
  
"It's okay little one," she softly spoke, " we're going to make it through. Maybe this next lead will finally help me to find your ...." She stopped. 'Uncle? Friend? Almost father?' She still had no idea what to tell the child about Mulder. She sighed at her mind touching on the problem she dealt with every day. Scully reluctantly rolled over, set her alarm for 5:30, and resolved to exhaust this lead, even if it was the last thing she did. Just as the trails of sleep were reaching her brain, she received a phone call. It was Skinner. "Dana?" His somewhat sleepy, but excitement charged voice spoke in her ear. " We found him."   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
There you go! Another tale of woe finished. Please review my story, and remember, all flames will be sent to my cute little kitty, and you wouldn't want to burn him, would you? =^_^= 


End file.
